In January, the court declared that the placing of markers by the Department of Home Affairs against identity numbers or identity documents resulting in the blocking of identity numbers in the absence of fair administrative process as unjust and irregular administrative action that is inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid.

The department was taken to court by Phindile Mazibuko and two Lawyers for Human Rights and LegalWise South Africa with the Children’s Institute as an amicus curiae.

DA MP Angel Khanyile wrote to Motsoaledi asking whether his department had put a timeline in place to comply with the judgment.

In his response, Motsoaledi said the court judgment granted his department a period of 12 months, from January 16, 2024, to March 1, 2025, to determine whether any identity number against which markers have been placed and which to date remain marked, correctly reflect the particulars of the person to whom the identity number was assigned.

He said the department was to also obtain court orders authorising the identity numbers of the affected persons to remain blocked prior to any investigation or inquiry having been finalised.

Motsoaledi said an internal audit and verification process determined the numbers at 697 000 out of the 700 000 blocked IDs.

“Of these 160 000 letters have been sent to clients in line with the principles of administrative justice as outlined in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, wherein clients have to be notified before the cancellation or deletion of the identity number of the client, and will be allowed to make representations to be considered by the department once all the relevant internal processes are concluded.

“The remaining 537 000 letters are being processed by the department and mainly include illegal immigrants and duplicates,” he said.

Thousands of people cannot access healthcare or education after Home Affairs decided in 2012 to block their ‘suspicious’ identity documents. 

In 2012, the Department of Home Affairs embarked on a mass drive to block South African identity documents in a bid to address fraud and misrepresentation, which had resulted in duplicate IDs on the National Population Register.

What initially started as 29,000 IDs having markers placed against them quickly escalated to more than one million by 2020.

 It resulted in people like Khanyi Mkhwanazi having their dignity and citizenship stripped from them, propelling them into statelessness.

“What is happening is so unfair. My father was a South African and I am married to a South African, but now Home Affairs is telling me that I am an illegal immigrant,” Mkhwanazi said in an emotional interview.

Mkhwanazi is a 50-year-old mother and grandmother whose troubles with Home Affairs started in 1990.

Although she was born and raised in Eswatini, her father was a South African who hailed from Mbuzini, a small village bordering Eswatini and Mozambique.

When apartheid was coming to an end, Mkhwanazi’s father took her to a makeshift Home Affairs office in Mpumalanga to apply for her ID, which was never issued.

Mkhwanazi spent time going back and forth between Swaziland and Mbuzini, but she permanently relocated to South Africa in 2002 when she got married.

She applied for permanent residence and citizenship, both of which were granted.

But later, when she went to register her business, she discovered that she could not because Home Affairs had blocked her ID, claiming she was an illegal immigrant.

“I can’t do anything. I literally can’t do anything. I’m stateless because I can’t open a bank account. I can’t start a business,” Mkhwanazi said.

“I’m working as a chef now, but if the Department of Labour comes to my [place of work], I fear I will be fired and arrested.”

Mkhwanazi said she dreamt of starting several businesses, from an early childhood development centre to a small takeaway shop, but these dreams had been dashed because Home Affairs had rendered her stateless.

As we speak now, my daughter is suicidal. She cannot get a job because of this ID mess.

“All that has been shattered because of one thing. I do not want to work for someone else for the rest of my life, but my life is stagnant. How would I move forward? Because to do anything in South Africa, you need an ID,” she said.

Desperate to have her South African ID unblocked and having exhausted every other avenue, Mkhwanazi said she was willing to take a DNA test to prove that she is indeed South African.

“My father passed away, rest his soul, and my aunt is gone too. I have no one I can turn to but my [half-]brother, so if they want DNA, they can match my brother’s DNA with mine.

“But besides that, I’ve been married to a South African for more than 20 years. Does that not count for something?” the mother of two asked.

Generational curses

The consequences of Mkhwanazi having her ID blocked are not felt by her alone, but extend across three generations.

She brought her daughter, Mai Bvutula, to South Africa when she got married in 2002. However, because Mkhwanazi’s ID was blocked, Bvutula has not been able to obtain an ID herself.

“As we speak now, my daughter is suicidal. She cannot get a job because of this ID mess. She can’t even get Sassa [grants] to support herself and her children,” Mkhwanazi said.

“So now I am stateless and my daughter and grandchildren are too, and it’s all because Home Affairs cannot be straight with us.”

Bvutula’s state of despair has driven her to consider the unthinkable.

“She once said to me: ‘You know what, Mama, when I’m with my kids, I feel so overwhelmed because I’m alone and I’m not working. I can’t get any social help. I feel like I can kill my kids.’

“That’s the damage this whole situation has done to my kids,” Mkhwanazi said.

Actually, I’m just useless because there’s just nothing that I can do to progress or to make my kid’s life better.

“This has affected my four grandchildren so badly. Because my daughter doesn’t have an ID, their births have never been registered. They cannot be accepted into school because they don’t have birth certificates.”

Mkhwanazi explained that all but the oldest grandchild had been excluded from obtaining an education.

Thanks to the intervention of a social worker, Sinethemba Skylar Bvutula started attending school for the first time in 2023 at the age of eight. Missing the foundation phases of early childhood development, Sinethemba went straight to Grade 2, which Mkhwanazi said could not be good for a child’s development.

Hope for the future

Though Home Affairs had unblocked more than one million IDs by 2023, hundreds of thousands of people are still affected by the practice and cut off from the system, rendering them unable to access healthcare services and education, to get a job or even open a bank account.

The High Court in Pretoria brought relief to thousands of affected people when it handed down a landmark judgment on 16 January declaring the practice unconstitutional.

Although the court ordered the department to unblock IDs that have been unfairly blocked, many people are still waiting, living in limbo but eager to get on with their lives.

Mkhwanazi said she had hopes that Home Affairs will unblock her ID soon so that she, her daughter and her grandchildren could go on with their lives.

She said she fears the department will not fix the mess it created when it started to block IDs indiscriminately, but she will never give up hope.

“Some time back, I used to feel like I [was] stateless. Actually, I’m just useless because there’s just nothing that I can do to progress or to make my kid’s life better. There’s just nothing I can do.

“But as an adult, you come to a point like, no man, this is not the end of the road,” Mkhwanazi said.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the visa corruption was sophisticated. 

• According to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, sophisticated officials are behind visa corruption.

• Several irregularities were uncovered with the issuing of visas to Chinese nationals.

• So far, 28 matters have been referred to the Hawks for further investigation and 94 matters are being considered for possible referral.

Investigations into violations of visa regulations has found that more than 3 000 Chinese nationals applied for South African visas and permits from a `nodal point`, and nearly 500 came from applicants who used the same address.

On top of this, another 477 applications came from Chinese nationals who applied for visas using addresses that were vacant (vacant erven), and 75 came from those who listed addresses that did not exist.

Details of these were shared by the multi-disciplinary task team the Department of Home Affairs had appointed to investigate corruption in the issuing of visas, permits and identity documents.

The task team, chaired by former top civil servant Cassius Lubisi, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday.

Forensic investigations specialist Peter Bishop, who is part of the task team, told the committee a preliminary analysis of available evidence led to the identification of an address as a nodal point referred to in at least 3 193 applications for various visas or permits by Chinese foreign nationals.

Two officials, who were stationed at the Beijing Mission in China, have been linked to these cases. 

`The task team performed further data analysis and uncovered a further 187 applicants, warranting immediate further investigation as this number is rapidly escalating as further investigations are undertaken by the task team,` Bishop said.

`Relating to the broad identified address, certain specific addresses utilised: 477 appear to relate to vacant erven whilst in respect of other addresses, 75, appear to be non-existent. Further investigation is ongoing. In certain instances, the same address was utilised by up to 488 applicants, being highly unusual,` Bishop said.

The task team conducted a data analysis into three identified applicants, the following was established:

• links with at least eight DHA officials;

• links with 115 other foreign nationals;

• links with 17 South African nationals; and

• links with 34 businesses.

`Due to the extensive networks related to these three identified applicants, both intra and extra the DHA, a high likelihood exists that syndication related to irregular and/or unlawful activities may be uncovered as investigations related thereto progress,` Bishop said.

Furthermore, 115 instances in which officials were implicated in potentially unlawful and irregular activities were uncovered.

There were 78 instances in which questionable medical reports had been submitted and 76 in which questionable radiological reports had been submitted.

Regarding retirement visas and permits, the initial investigation focused on 3 530 retired person visa applications and visas issued.

During this process, it is alleged that similar documentation was used in retirement person visa applications.

`On the face of it, such individuals appear too young to be retiring. Preliminary findings to date have identified a number of officials involved, with three department officials appearing to have processed the bulk thereof,` Bishop said.

Regarding disciplinary matters, 27 charge sheets have been finalised and submitted to the department.

Five disciplinary hearings have commenced and are proceeding while 10 disciplinary matters have proposed set down dates.

Twelve disciplinary matters have been concluded, nine officials have been dismissed and one dismissal is the subject of an appeal.

Two officials have resigned.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the visa corruption was sophisticated.

`This report came about with [Shepherd] Bushiri. While we were working on fixing things, there were 14 officials who had asked us to not investigate their errors. They did not see their errors as corruption. This people have covered their tracks very well. The sit and plan which mistakes they should not make,` he said.

IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe said the department was dragging its feet in investigating matters.

She said:

If applicants supply fraudulent information, why don`t we just block them. We do not have the capacity to investigate all these matters. Officials have also resigned, and we don`t always investigate it further. This is not right.

DA MP Adrian Roos said the corruption stemmed from years ago.

`The time that has been spent on the investigation could have been used to reduce the visa backlog. I have also not seen, allocations to IT projects that seek to upgrade the system. There are several red flags,` he said.

Bishop said the department sought legal advice and it was recommended that in cases where applicants had obtained visas through fraudulent means, the visas must be annulled.

`Upon the annulment of their visas, these individuals should be deported,` Bishop said.

The Johannesburg high court has revoked a “fraudulently obtained” divorce decree granted 13 years ago because the husband never served his wife with divorce summons.

The husband could also not provide a copy of the divorce summons and details of the lawyers he used. The application for rescission was brought after the husband attempted to evict his wife from their matrimonial home.

The couple, from Meadowlands in Soweto, were married in community of property in 1981. The wife alleged that her husband abused her in the 1990s and she had to get a protection order against him which he violated in 2010.

In November that year, the husband instituted divorce proceedings in the regional court. The husband was represented by a firm of attorneys, Sarlie& Ismail Inc. In the summons, he asked the court for a decree of divorce and a division of the joint estate.

She filed a notice of intention to defend in December 2010. She filed a plea disputing the reasons for the breakdown of the marriage. She represented herself and was served with a notice to attend a pretrial conference in May 2012.

During the same month, she found a divorce decree granted in the South Gauteng High Court in her home post box. The divorce decree was granted on an unopposed basis in November 2011.

The order stated that the marriage was dissolved and that she forfeited the benefits arising from the marriage, including the property in Meadowlands and her husband’s pension fund.

She argued that she was never served with a summons out of the South Gauteng division. She contended that she was completely unaware that the husband had instituted divorce proceedings out of the high court against her while the regional court proceedings were still ongoing and that the relief sought by her husband in the high court differed substantially from the one he sought at the regional court.

In deciding the matter, the court found numerous difficulties with the high court divorce decree, and with emphasis on the importance of details in orders relating to property transfers.

Attempts were made to find the court file in respect of the high court divorce proceedings and on March 13 2023, the registrar confirmed the file could not be located.

The court said the woman was left with no option but to launch the rescission application as she was not served with the high court summons, and it would be “incomprehensible” that a forfeiture order would have been granted in respect of the property.

The court said there were no grounds for forfeiture and that the forfeiture order impacted negatively upon her constitutional rights. In opposing the application, the husband argued that he became dissatisfied with the services rendered by Sarlie & Ismail Inc.

However, he did not provide any reasons for his dissatisfaction. Furthermore, he was introduced (by people unknown) to a certain “Mr. Levin” who proceeded to institute high court divorce proceedings.

At the time, he was under the bona fide impression that the regional court proceedings were withdrawn. However, he failed to provide the court with any details regarding Mr. Levin.

The court concluded that the circumstances surrounding the granting of the high court divorce decree were suspicious, especially as the husband had neglected or refused to provide the necessary documentation, that would disprove such averments.

The court ordered that the divorce decree granted by the high court be rescinded and set aside. Further, that the transfer of the wife’s half share ownership of the matrimonial property to her husband is cancelled .

A British couple living in South Africa applied for the renewal of their retirement visas and 10 days later they were allegedly asked for a R60 000 bribe. (Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images) 

• A British couple living in South Africa applied for the renewal of their retirement visas in December 2022. 

• After waiting for months for a response to their application, they emailed a private secretary in the minister`s office whose address they found on the Department of Home Affairs website.

• Twelve minutes later, they received an email from another home affairs official and 10 days later they were allegedly asked for a R60 000 bribe.

Just 12 minutes after a British man sent an email to a secretary in the home affairs minister`s office to ask about his retirement visa, he received a response from an official that ultimately led to an alleged demand for a R60 000 bribe.

In a sworn affidavit provided to the police, which includes copies of emails and WhatsApp conversations, Chris Campbell detailed how a request for information about the renewal of retirement visas for him and his wife led to an attempt to solicit a bribe from the couple in exchange for expediting the visas.

Campbell and his wife, Irene, applied for the renewal of their retirement visas through the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on 14 December 2022. 

Their visas were due to expire on 19 February 2023 and they wanted to remain in South Africa.

Email trail  

More than five months later, having not heard anything about their application, Campbell sent an email to Mamokolo Sethosa, the affidavit states. 

He found her email address on the home affairs website, which lists Sethosa as a private secretary in the ministerial office.

In the email sent on 29 May 2023 at 18:15, Campbell asked Sethosa if she could ask Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi if he could indicate when they would receive their renewed retirement visas.

About 12 minutes later, Campbell received a response from another DHA official, Sabelo Mndebele, from the email address Sabelo.Mndebele@dha.gov.za, according to the affidavit.

It read: `Good day Mr and Mrs Campbell. I have received your request and will do everything in my power to assist. Can you send a scanned copy or picture of your VFS receipt. Also, can you send a contact number on which you can be reached.`

According to the DHA website, Mndebele is the Nerston Port of Entry office manager in Mpumalanga.

The following morning, on 30 May 2023, a person who identified himself as Mndebele called Campbell from a private cellphone, according to the affidavit.  

News24 is in possession of the number, which is no longer in operation.

WhatsApp messages were sent to Campbell from the same number.

Campbell alleges they discussed that there were outstanding documents relating to their visas. Mndebele told him on the phone that he had sent him an email about it, which he did from his DHA email address. 

Alleged extortion attempt

Eight days later, on 7 June 2023, Campbell said he phoned the cellphone number on which he and the person purporting to be Mndebele had originally spoken, and asked for an update on the visa paperwork.

`He replied saying that he could not recall the details and requested I send him the relevant information via WhatsApp,` Campbell said in his affidavit.

Campbell sent the information and, two days later, with no feedback, he sent another WhatsApp message requesting an update.

`Mndebele gave me a call and explained that the decision was not up to him, but he would communicate with the officials above him and see what he can organise and would call me back within 10 minutes,` Campbell said.

The contents of the conversation in the follow-up call, which was then reiterated in a WhatsApp message, was that the first time Campbell was told he would have to pay up to have the visa application expedited. 

`Mndebele called me back and further sent me a message on WhatsApp stating that in order to get the application process moving and to receive the visas in [seven to] 10 days, I would need to pay R30 000 per application,` he said in the affidavit.

In a WhatsApp message seen by News24, the person identifying as Mndebele said:

Mr Campbell, total cost is 30 000 per application, 7 to 10 days outcome. Advise we waiting your response in order to initiate the process (sic).

The WhatsApp conversation continued from 17:24 to 18:17 with back-and-forth messages about the sum of money and how to make the payment.

The conversation included Campbell asking if a lower price could be negotiated to which he was told that R20 000 per application would be accepted if payment was made immediately.

`He requested this so he could bargain with his senior officials, and then I was to bring the outstanding amount the following week,` Campbell said.

According to the affidavit, after being asked which bank account Campbell would be paying from, he was sent a `confirmation of banking details` letter. 

This letter, included in the affidavit, was for a Discovery bank account in the name of Michael Brits.

Campbell said he was unsure of how to make an immediate payment and told Mndebele that he did not have enough funds in his bank account.

He was then sent an image of an example of an FNB account with a circle drawn around the button he would need to press to make an instant payment.

Campbell told Mndebele he was having trouble logging into his bank account and would try again in the morning.

The response he said he received was: 

My guys are now annoyed with me. Let`s cancel. I made them wait here till this late.

Deleted messages 

According to Campbell, no money was ever paid. 

Once Mndebele began deleting his WhatsApp messages, Campbell saved a second copy of the conversation to be able to prove what he was up to. 

News24 sent questions to the Department of Home Affairs on Monday last week. No responses were forthcoming, despite several follow-up calls. 

News24 also sent emails to both Mndebele and Sethosa`s official email addresses on Friday morning. Their responses will be added if received.

Police investigation

Campbell told News24 that he opened a criminal case at the Sandringham Police Station in Johannesburg on 13 June 2023.

However, he said he had only spoken to two detectives on two occasions since then.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo confirmed that a corruption case had been opened.

`The docket was first investigated at station level before the docket was transferred to SCI corruption in August 2023. The investigating officer whom the docket was assigned to was promoted elsewhere ... which prompted it to be assigned the current IO [investigating officer] in November 2023,` Mbambo said.

`The IO called the complainant in February to seek clarity in terms of the account number in question as part of an ongoing investigation.`

Mbambo said the investigation conducted so far had revealed that the `alleged official` was not known at the department.

`Investigation still continues and any developments on the case will be communicated with the complainant.`